This document is available in two formats: this web page (for browsing content) and
PDF (comparable to original document
formatting). To view the PDF you will need Acrobat Reader, which may be downloaded from the Adobe site. For an official signed copy, please contact the
Antitrust Documents Group.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1992

AT
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888

TWO DRUG MANUFACTURERS AND THEIR PRESIDENTS
CHARGED WITH FIXING PRICE OF GENERIC DRUG

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice announced that a federal
grand jury in Baltimore, Maryland, today returned a one-count felony
indictment charging two generic drug manufacturers and their presidents
with conspiring to fix the price of generic Dyazide, a drug generally
prescribed for the treatment of hypertension or high blood pressure.

The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, named Bolar
Pharmaceutical Co. Inc. of Copiague, New York, and its president, Lawrence
S. Raisfeld, and Vitarine Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Springfield Gardens,
New York, and its president, Roger W. Jordan, as defendants. They were
charged with a felony violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.

The indictment charged that beginning as early as February 1988 and
continuing through April 1989, the defendants and other co-conspirators
agreed to the range of prices at which Bolar and Vitarine would sell
generic Dyazide to various customers.

Robert Shulman, former president of Bolar, was previously charged for
his role in the conspiracy in a one-count felony information filed in
Baltimore December 9, 1992.

During the conspiracy, Bolar sold over $65 million and Vitarine sold
over $10 million of generic Dyazide. Both Bolar and Vitarine withdrew
their generic Dyazide from the market by early 1990.

Charles A. James, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the
Antitrust Division, said the indictment resulted from a grand jury investigation,
conducted by the Antitrust Division and the U.S. Attorney's office in
Baltimore, which has conducted a wide-ranging investigation of the generic
drug industry. James said the investigation is continuing.

The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of a violation of the
Sherman Act is three years imprisonment and a fine that is the greatest
of $250,000, twice the pecuniary gain derived from the crime, or twice
the pecuniary loss caused to the victims of the crime.

For a corporation, the maximum penalty is the greatest of a $1 million
fine, twice the pecuniary gain the corporation derived from the crime,
or twice the pecuniary loss caused to the victims of the crime.